Registered sex offender from Indiana sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing child pornography

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing child pornography, announced Joseph H. Hogsett, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

This sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jason King, 39, of Brownsburg, Indiana, was sentenced July 16 to 20 years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt issued the sentence after King pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.

"Protecting the most innocent Hoosier victims is a top priority of this office. Those who question my sincerity will be shown the seriousness of this promise," said Hogsett.

During the HSI investigation, King was found to have more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer. He made the images available to other users via a peer-to-peer file-sharing network online. Because the computer files containing the images were password protected, King provided interested users with passwords that allowed access to the images, as well as the ability to download them. King admitted his role in distributing the images.

King is also a registered sex offender. In 1999 he was convicted of child molestation and was re-incarcerated for failing to register as a sex offender after serving his sentence.

"This type of behavior is deplorable and must be stopped," Hogsett said. "That is why we launched Operation Community Watch last year – to protect Hoosier families and send a message."

This arrest comes one year after Hogsett announced a comprehensive crackdown on child exploitation in Indiana. In 2013, Hogsett launched Operation Community Watch, which has allowed prosecutors and investigators to use cutting-edge techniques to identify and charge people in Hoosier communities who are engaged in the receipt and trafficking of child pornography materials.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Vaughn, who prosecuted the case for the government, King will be subject to 10 years of supervised release after serving his sentence.

This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.